The DumbLittleMan Guide to Colon Use

The colon was first introduced in the 16th century and is all but extinct in the 21st century.

9 Ways To Use The Colon

1. To introduce a list
   The list is the colon’s bread and butter and the place you are most likely to see it used. For example:

“She had everything: looks, personality, brains, compassion and even a little money.”

 

• To introduce direct speech
  The comma has really taken over this role, and many purists wouldn’t thank you for the colon here, however, its role here is merited:

 

“He strode confidently over to the two men, looked at each of them in turn: ‘You been picking apples from my tree,’he growled.”

 

• When showing an example
  You will often see this used after the words for example, e.g., as follows. For example:

 

“You can do lots of things to increase your social status within the blogging community, for example: write lots of guest posts.”

 

• To offer a conclusion
  The colon here is used to give us a conclusion to someone’s thoughts, actions or to give a closing statement.

 

“The fact that the blog had over 80,000 subscribers could mean only one thing: it was a great blog.”

 

• To explain something more fully
  The use of the colon here is to give a little more detail about the preceding clause.

 

“He had become one of the most successful businessmen in the world: no wonder, he worked every hour he could.”

 

• To Introduce a subtitle
  This is self explanatory, however, here is a short example:

 

Dumb Little Man: Tips For Life

• As a substitution for a conjunction
  This is not used often in the English language but it can provide emphasis in a sentence and make it a little more gritty.

  “He gently held the back of her head, looked into her eyes, then kissed her: she didn’t resist.” (Think I’ll go write for Mills and Boon.)

 

• To link independent clauses
  A colon might be used to link independent clauses that are closely related to each other or if the second clause is a continuation of the first clause.

 

“The editor, Jay White, had only one decision to make: whether or not to publish the article.”

 

• To Introduce a question
  A comma may be used to set up a question however a lot of writers still use the colon.

 

“All the readers seemed to be asking one thing: was he talking rubbish?”

Other familiar uses of the colon
Oh yes, this versatile punctuation mark has a few more tricks up its sleeve and is used in a few other ways, which you will be familiar with.

Time colon – The time colon is a way to separate the hours from the unites when presenting the time. For example: Flight 1047 will be leaving at 23:45

Maths colon – The colon here can be used in several ways. One way is to use it in ratios or odds. For example: DumbLittleMan readers from the US outnumber readers from the UK by 12:1

Letter colon – This is mainly a practice in the US. Business letters will use a colon after addressing their reader. For example: Dear sirs:, Dear Sir or Madam:

Stageplay colon – If you’ve ever seen a written stage play you will be familiar with this use of the colon:

Tom: The world is a stage!
Dick: Is that so?
Tom: Yes, but the play is badly cast.

Biblical colon – You will often see this when biblical quotes are being used in text. For example: Matthew 7:1

When not to use the colon
We have looked at a lot of ways where the colon should be used correctly. As with most punctuation marks there will always be a few times when it is used incorrectly.

The main rule with colon use is:

The preceding clause should be able to stand on its own and make complete sense, if it does not a colon should not be used. For example, look at these two sentences:

1. The secret recipe contained: curry powder, chili powder and a little thyme

2. The secret recipe contained some unusual ingredients: curry powder, chili powder and a little thyme.

Sentence one has the clause ‘The secret recipe contained.’ This, on its own, would not make sense, so a colon should not be used here. Instead, a comma would replace the colon.

Sentence two has the clause ‘The secret recipe contained some unusual ingredients.’ This, on its own would make sense as a sentence on its own, so a colon can be used here.

Conclusion
Colons are a great tool to use when writing and its use is fast becoming redundant. However, I believe it still has its place and should be a main tool in your writing toolbox.